Google Prepares Update To Android Wear With Bluetooth, GPS, And Custom Watchface Support

Ahead of the Berlin IFA show this week and a number of Android Wear device announcements, Google is preparing an update to their wearable OS (writes Richard Nieva on CNet). Three major additions are coming, including support for direct BlueTooth connections from the wearable to external devices such as headphones, the addition of code to support GPS hardware, and a common API allowing custom watch faces to be designed and made available through the Google Play store.

These updates should all be available by the end of the year. There will be an update to Android Wear just before IFA, and this should tweak 'the navigation experience' (presumably improved turn by turn directions relayed to the Android Wear device while walking) and improvements to the voice recognition software.

LG and Samsung both have Android devices currently on sale, and announced their second devices last week (the LG G Watch R and the Samsung Gear S). Motorola's Moto 360 featuring the circular UI should get a commercial release date announced by the end of the week, and there is an expectation that September will see Android Wear devices announced by Acer, Asus, HTC, and Sony.

LG G Watch R (image: LG Press)

It's unlikely that smartwatches are going to be an instant money spinner for any manufacturer. I don't think that's the goal in these early moments of the smartwatch ecosystem. Having proved their worth to the geekerati, it's time to work on a vision that consumers can buy into. By providing a common platform Google is hoping to pull the same trick with on the wrist as they did with the mobile phone, and become the common operating system choice across a wide range of devices.

Manufacturers can pass over much of the heavy development work to Google, and in exchange get to experiment in the smartwatch space without their R&D teams reinventing the OS wheel, safe in the knowledge that their watch will be compatible over the Android smartphone platform. Yes, it hands a lot of indirect control to Google, but attempting to go it alone with a smartwatch involves a much larger investment in areas such as software development, certification, and developer outreach programs.

That might be fine for the tech-community focused Pebble team, but it's perversely out the reach of many mainstream manufacturer's smartwatch department.

And there is the elephant in the room of Apple's iWatch. Android Wear provides some safety in numbers against the expected hardware from Cupertino.

Nevertheless, smartwatches are a new category that is still waiting for a major player to come up and establish a vision that consumers can buy into. Google has set out their thoughts, and we're about to see what the manufacturers can add.